Juror hauled before the judge partway through Pickton trial

Lori Culbert, Vancouver Sun08.04.2010

One of the 12 jurors at Robert (Willie) Pickton’s murder trial was hauled before the judge partway through the high-profile 2007 proceeding to defend herself against allegations that she had decided the former pig farmer was innocent of murder long before all the evidence was heard.

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VANCOUVER — One of the 12 jurors at Robert (Willie) Pickton’s murder trial was hauled before the judge partway through the high-profile 2007 proceeding to defend herself against allegations that she had decided the former pig farmer was innocent of murder long before all the evidence was heard.

The incident provided a rare glimpse into the world of Canadian jurors who, by law, are not allowed to speak publicly about how they reach their verdicts.

The juror’s former boss alleged that the young woman, who worked as a bartender, had decided shortly after the trial began Jan. 22, 2007 that Pickton was not intelligent enough to have committed the murders himself.

The exchange between the juror, who cannot be named, and B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams in October 2007 was protected by a publication ban until it was lifted yesterday. (The names of the boss and the bar cannot be revealed, to protect the juror’s identity.)

“It’s reported to me,” Williams told the juror, “you said from what you had seen you were certain Mr. Pickton was innocent, there was no way he could have done this. That the court system had arrested the wrong guy.”

“I never said that,” she insisted.

“It’s reported to me that in that same conversation that you said words to the effect that ‘Mr. Pickton doesn’t seem smart enough to have been able to have taken this on,’” Williams said.

“I deny it completely,” she said.

There were also allegations that the juror told a co-worker in August 2007 -- when the Crown’s case had ended and the defence’s had not yet begun -- that she had already made up her mind.

“You had formed your view as to the guilt or innocence of Mr. Pickton and that you had known from the beginning?” Williams asked.

“I can say that is the utmost untruth there is because, I mean, I mean that’s not the case at all,” the juror said.

Then one month later, in September 2007, the juror allegedly chatted about the views of other jurors and had revised her initial position slightly, the boss told police.

“You took the view that you believed Mr. Pickton was definitely involved in the situation but that you cannot see him as a primary instigator,” Williams said to the juror.

“You mentioned that a prosecution witness was more likely to be involved than Mr. Pickton, had access [to the farm] and seemed smarter than Mr. Pickton?”

“This is crazy,” she insisted.

The juror’s boss and co-worker were interviewed by police at the request of Williams, after the allegations were brought to the judge’s attention.

The juror insisted the boss and her close friend, the co-worker, were both lying.

After the juror left the courtroom, the defence argued she should remain on the jury. Prosecutor Michael Petrie stopped short of asking that the juror be removed so late in the game, saying it was ultimately the judge’s decision.

In Canadian law, up to two jurors can be removed before a mistrial is declared.

Williams ruled that his ad hoc inquiry was not an “especially satisfactory process,” but that he was hesitant to delay the nine-month-old trial to embark on a fact-finding mission about the juror.

“I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I am not by any means concluding that what those persons told the police are fabrications or collusions or that those persons have lied,” Williams said.

“Can I say that it is more likely than not that this juror made statements which it is alleged that she made? … I am suspicious. I am quite suspicious.”

However, since it had not been proven the juror made the statements, he ruled she could remain on the jury.

Williams later reminded the entire jury not to speak about the case, or to make early decisions about Pickton’s fate.

Five days later, however, the drama continued. Lawyers told the judge that two more people had been found who were alleging the same juror told tales out of school about the trial.

But Williams said he had done what he could and would take no further action.

On Dec. 9, 2007, the 12-member jury found Pickton not guilty of first-degree murder but guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women whose partial remains were found on his Port Coquitlam farm.

Juror hauled before the judge partway through Pickton trial

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